1. Technical Field
Example embodiments relate to semiconductor chips and methods for manufacturing such semiconductor chips and, more particularly, to image sensor chips having a protective plate and methods for manufacturing such image sensor chips.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image sensor modules may include solid state image sensing devices or complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors (CISs). The image sensor modules may pick up an image of an object and output corresponding electrical signals using photoelectric conversion devices and charge coupled devices (CCDs). Image sensor modules are utilized in a wide range of applications including, e.g., digital cameras, digital camcorders, telecommunication terminals, camera phones, multi-media personal computers, and surveillance cameras.
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a conventional image sensor module 10 and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line I-I as indicated in FIG. 1. As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional image sensor module 10 may include a flexible circuit substrate 1 and an image sensor chip 2 mounted on an upper surface of the flexible circuit substrate 1. A lens unit 7 may be formed on the upper surface of the flexible circuit substrate 1 surrounding or at least partially surrounding the image sensor chip 2 and may incorporate a lens 8 for focusing an image on the image sensor chip and/or protecting the image sensor chip.
The image sensor chip 2 has an active surface on which chip pads 4 may be formed in peripheral regions of the active surface. A microlens 5 may be formed toward the center region of the active surface and bonding wires 6 may be used for forming electrical connections between conductive regions provided on the flexible circuit substrate 1 and corresponding ones of the chip pads 4 provided on the image sensor chip 2. If present, the lens 8 of the lens unit 7 may be aligned with and cooperate with the microlens 5 of the image sensor chip 2 for directing an image onto at least a portion of the active surface of the image sensor chip.
The active surface of the image sensor chip 2 may be exposed to the external environment before being positioned within the protection provided by the lens unit 7. During this period of exposure, the microlens 5 may become contaminated with fine particles present in the external environment. Such contaminants present on the microlens 5 may result in faulty or degraded image sensor modules, thereby reducing productivity, accuracy and/or sensitivity.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional image sensor module 10 may use bonding wires 6 for connecting the image sensor chip 2 to the flexible circuit substrate 1. This use of bonding wires 6 will tend to result in an increased electrical connection path between the image sensor chip and the flexible circuit substrate, thereby tending to reduce the processing speed of the image sensor module. Further, the volume provided within the lens unit 7 in order to accommodate the bonding wires 6 will also tend to increase the thickness of the resulting image sensor module, thereby limiting the extent to which the image sensor module may be miniaturized or otherwise reduced in size and/or weight.